Improvement in wrecking apparatus



ZSheets--Sh'eetL B. MGGRUDER &H. TIEDEMANN. Wrecking Apparatus.

WreckingvApparatus.

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B. MGGRUDER 8L H. TIEDEMANN.

Patented September 9, |873.

UNITED STATES BERNARD MGGRODER AND HANN ES TIEDEMANN, 'OF CLEVELAND,OHIO.

IMPRovEMEN-r |N wREcKlNG APPARATUS.

Spccillcation forming part of Letters Patent No. 142,712, datedSrptember 9, 1873 5 application filed June 25, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, BERNARD MCGRODER and HANNEs TIEDEMANN, ofCleveland, in the county or' Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have inventednew and useful Improvements in Wrecking Apparatus, of which thefollowing is a complete description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings making part of the same.

Figure l is a side view of the apparatus adjusted for lowering thecable. Fig. 2 is a top view of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view of the apparatushaving the cable lowered into the water. Figs. 4 and 5 are detachedsections.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several views.

The purpose of this invention is to be applied to raising sunken vesselsfrom deep waters, the construction and operation of which, in detail,are as follows: The apparatus, in part, consists of a raft composed of aseries of floats, A, which may be more or less in number, ascircumstances may require. Said lioats, in shape, resemble a cask,longitudinally through the middle of which passes a tube, B', Fig. 4. rIhe ends thereof are secured tothe heads of the float in an air and watertight manner; also, transversely through each iloat passes a tube, C,which is also secured therein in a manner that shall be air and watertight. Said lioats, when thus prepared, are strung upon a chain, D, inthe order as shown in the drawings. Between the ends of the iloats areinterposed rubber rings E, whereby they are prevented from touching eachother, and guarded from injury by collision. To the outside of eachioatare secured the ends of two chains, F, Fig. 3, whereas the oppositeends of the chains are attached to a cable, G; also, to the cable issecured one end of the ropes H, whereas the opposite ends thereof extendup to and through the floats A, passing through the tube O, as shown inFigxll. The upper end of each rope is formed into a loop, as seen at" a,Fig. 2, whereby the several ropes are looped together. The ropes on eachside of a certain float are looped toward said float, at which placethey are secured from unlooping, for a purpose presently shown.

The practical operation ot' the above-described apparatus is as follows:The chains l F are wound up around the floats, as shown in Fig. l,thereby drawing up the cable G in close proximity to them, as shown insaid Fig. l. .The cable is secured, in this relation, to the oats bymeans of the ropes H referred to, which, as above said, passes upthrough the floats, and, on the upper side thereof, they are looped intoeach other, as shown in Fig. 2, the looping being inthe direction towardthe middle lloat A. This looping together of the ropes draws them tight,thereby suspending the cable from the iloats by the ropes instead of thechains, and that in close proximity to them, as shown in Fig. 1. To eachend of the cable is attached a hawser, I, whereby the cable is handled,and, in part, directed. The apparatus, when thus arranged, is towed .tothe wreck; the exact place of which being ascertained, the iloatsy arethen so arranged as to bring the cable near to one side of it, which isthen dropped to the necessary depth to reach the hull by unfastening theropes, whereby it is suspended at the middle float A', referred to. Theropes, being looped together, will now, by the weight of the cable,unloop at about one time, and permit the chains to unwind from the oats,and thereby allow the cable to sink to one side of the wreck. rEhesunken cable is now drawn tight around the hull by means of the hawserI, which, on being done, is thereby secured by a self-adjusting clutcharranged in connection with the cable for that purpose. The wreck,

thus surrounded by the cable, is raised by sending down upon one of thechains F ot' each lloat-which is unhooked from the float for thatpurposeone or more other floats, the same as those forming the raftwhereby the cable was oated. Said loats are sunk by a weight attachedthereto, which, when it has run down upon the chain far enough, isfastened by a clutch, and thereby retained below when the sinkerisdetached. By this means a number of oats are sunk all around the wreckby passing them down over `the chains until a sufcient number has 'beenlet down to raise the wreck, which is then towed, thus buoyed up, to anydesirable place.

It will be obviousy that, by the above-described means, wrecks can beraised from great depths, and that, when the Wreck is not raised to thesurface, in consequence of the great length of chain required to reachit, the Wreck can be floated by the buoys, thus partially raised, intoshallow Water, Where the chains can be shortened up, and the vesselraised nearer to the surface, or above it, as the attachment of the oatsor buoys thereto may be.

That We claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The ropes H, provided with loops a, in combination with the ioats A,having transverse andlongitudinal tubes B C, and cable Gr, constructedand arranged substantially as and for the purpose described. Y

BERNARD MCGRODER. HANNES TIEDEMANN. Witnesses:

W. H. BURRIDGE, WM. V. ToUsLEY.

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